September 04, 2009

Oregon Player Flips Out After Boise State Game: College football began its season last night with teamwide handshakes at midfield to emphasize sportsmanship. Oregon tailback LeGarrette Blount ended his team's 16-8 loss to Boise State with a new tradition: the postgame sucker punch. After being taunted by Boise State player Byron Hout -- probably over pregame remarks that "we owe that team an ass-whuppin" -- Blount served him a fist sandwich, punched one of his own players and went after Boise State fans before being dragged off by police, security guards and coaches. See the video.

The clip also mentioned that the same player was kicked out of practice earlier in the season for "behavioral issues." Sounds like the kid needs some help, but sadly, all he'll be remembered for is sucker punching somebody.

This is sad. This kid obviously has some serious issues and like jmd82 put it, I'm pretty sure that Blount will likely be remembered for sucker punching Hout. Suspend him a few games, provide some sort of therapist for him because it seems as if he suffers from anger management, the kid just went nuts.

Anyone ever heard of writing cheques your ass can't cash? It appears Hout signed off on one when he put his hands on Blount, yelled something in his face and then stupidly turned his back on him.

I'm not condoning what Blount did, and I'm sure he'll be suspended for it, or maybe even removed from the team. But Hout is culpable here also as the instigator, and I'm not going to feel too sorry for a guy who kicks an opponent when he's down and then gets a jaw full of knuckles for his effort.

Given the video after the knockout, I think Blount needs some anger-management courses. When a guy flips out enough after the first punch to deliver a couple more to teammates and then fight with the security staff, well, perhaps football shouldn't be his main focus right now.

The kid that Blount punched (Hout) had his back towards him so he wasn't even able to defend himself, that's called a sucker punch.

I wouldn't walk up to some guy in the street, insult his wife or something, then turn my back

If you walked up to someone and they punched you for insulting them for whatever reason, that's one thing. If you turn your back and then the person decided to punch you, that my friend is called a sucker punch no matter how you try to spin it.

If you walked up to someone and they punched you for insulting them for whatever reason, that's one thing. If you turn your back and then the person decided to punch you, that my friend is called a sucker punch no matter how you try to spin it.

And you'd land in jail for assault.
"Uh, yea, I knocked him out for insulting my wife."

I don't think Hout intended to taunt and run. Head coach Chris Petersen shoved Hout and was starting to yell at him for the chump move, so he turned towards the coach.

Blount has apologized: "I just apologize to everyone that was watching this. I just apologize to all of our fans, all of Boise's fans. I lost my head. ... A few guys wished me a good game, a few guys pushed me and I just kind of lost my temper. I don't know what kind of disciplinary action coach Kelly has in store for me, but whatever it is, I'm ready to take it full force."

Call me callous, but I kind of smiled when you see Hout trash talk, turn around and you can just start to see a smirk start to cross his face when Blount K.O.'s him.

I liked Peterson's reaction to the fight in the post-game interview on the field. He chalked it up to the heat of the moment, talked about how it had been a hard-fought but clean game, and didn't condemn anybody.

The kid that Blount punched had his back towards him so he wasn't even able to defend himself, that's called a sucker punch.

That's because Hout hit him on the shoulder pads, yelled something in his face and then tried to move away from him. When you do those three things, you take the "sucker" out of being "sucker" punched.

And you'd land in jail for assault. "Uh, yea, I knocked him out for insulting my wife."

Sometimes jail is worth it.

Rogers, I don't want to get into a back-and-to-the-left situation, but I think the video's pretty clear -- Hout thinks his business is finished and he's turning away from Blount. He's grinning about it right up until the moment he gets smacked in his sissy beard.

Perhaps Blount was just enforcing what should be a pretty standard rule -- shave like a Backstreet Boy, you take your chances.

What happened should not happen in sports at any level. But, when you play with lots of emotion, and somebody comes up to you and pokes you, slaps you on the shoulder, or whatever it was he did... and then follow it up with some type of comments that are likely to be offensive, something will happen the majority of the time. Getting clocked for being a smart ass is his reward. The Oregon player (I believe I heard this morning) will serve a 1-game suspension. One game is it... Way too lenient...

That's because Hout hit him on the shoulder pads, yelled something in his face and then tried to move away from him

Well, we don't know what Hout said to Blount, maybe he insulted Blount or maybe he said good game since that is when both teams were shaking hands.

As far as "hitting" him on his shoulder pads(?), he slapped Blount's shoulder pads which isn't so different from any other player that slaps the shoulder pads of either his teammate or an opponents shoulder pads, which I've seen happen on numerous occasions in pee wee football all the way up to the NFL. By no means does that equate to Blount going completely nuts on the opposition, the fans and even his own teammates.

"Unsportsmanlike? Oh, certainly. Dirty? Completely, yes, but shit, would you so much as step on Blount's shadow without his permission now? Somewhere he and Ron Artest are walking through a suburban mall right now punching people in the face randomly and talking about how awesome smoothies are." -- Every Day Should Be Saturday

Awesome that folks here know what it was that Hout said that deserved a punch in the face. Blount had been in the press trash-talking about what he and Oregon were going to do to Boise State prior to the game. So when Hout gives some of the trash talk back to Blount in person, he gets cold-cocked (that's the term I think you may have been searching for).

I don't think Hout was trying to flee the scene after getting in Blount's face. On the contrary, he was pulled away by his coach.

I'm no fan of either Boise State or Oregon (especially Oregon-I admit my bias), but whatever Hout said, getting punched for it was wrong.

Awesome that folks here know what it was that Hout said that deserved a punch in the face...I'm no fan of either Boise State or Oregon (especially Oregon-I admit my bias), but whatever Hout said, getting punched for it was wrong.

Well, we don't know what Hout said to Blount, maybe he insulted Blount or maybe he said good game since that is when both teams were shaking hands.

Agreed. I think saying Hout deserved it because he was taunting is kind of missing the big picture. I'd be surprised if Blount hadn't been doing the same, his team got their ass kicked, and suddenly it wasn't fun any more. Suddenly he realized his quest to get revenge wasn't going to happen, so he snapped

You can play a pickup game at the school yard and you'll run into someone that talks a good game until the going gets rough and their willing to fight.

And of course it was a sucker punch. If you can't see it and can't defend yourself it's a sucker punch, even if the guy deserved it. I would say Blount needs to change sports and enter the ring, but dropping someone is much easier when they don't see the punch coming.

You, rcade are reaching the same level as THX. Classic pic of ONJ! Funny stuff!

And of course it was a sucker punch. If you can't see it and can't defend yourself it's a sucker punch, even if the guy deserved it. I would say Blount needs to change sports and enter the ring, but dropping someone is much easier when they don't see the punch coming.

Absolutely!

Now back to the ONJ pic so I can laugh some more. Is that 80's hot though? I'm getting all warm and tingly.

Having teams mingle and shake hands after the game is stupid. That say it's done in an effort to inculcate sportsmanship but how else is it supposed to play out? You've got the winners who've spent their whole lives hooting when they win, and the losers who've spent their whole lives fuming when they lose, and now you suddenly tell them to go talk to each other immediately after the game? Shake hands? That's not an experiment in sportsmanship, it's a powder keg.

I always thought it was just the coaches who shook hands after games. The NCAA is guilty of some stupid, wishful thinking here.

Before the game. But there's a lot of handshakes, hugs, prayer huddles and "call me, bro" going on on the field after most college football games these days. At North Texas, players even hang around to talk to fans on the field.

I'm not condoning what Blount did, and I'm sure he'll be suspended for it, or maybe even removed from the team. But Hout is culpable here also as the instigator, and I'm not going to feel too sorry for a guy who kicks an opponent when he's down and then gets a jaw full of knuckles for his effort.

This.

Blount will be suspended, and, according to ESPN, has dropped from a potential second round pick to undraftable. But Hout acted like an ass and even if Blount was wrong to do it, Hout kinda deserved a punch in the face.

Blount had been talking trash in the press leading up to the game, which his team subsequently lost. A Boise player, Hout, obviously riding an emotional high and perhaps well aware of Blount's comment, gives him some payback via a slap on the pads and a disparaging remark about Oregon's performance. To which Blount sucker punched/cold cocked/bitchslap knock downed, Hout.

My conclusion: Blount is an asshat. And Hout learned to keep his helmet on til he get's to the locker room.

BOISE, Idaho Boise State defensive end Byron Hout will not be suspended after taunting Oregon's LeGarrette Blount before getting decked with a punch.

Boise State spokesman Max Corbet told The Associated Press in an e-mail Friday that head coach Chris Petersen won't suspend Hout. Instead, Petersen will spend time with Hout this week to help him learn from what happened.

Hout was knocked to his knees by Blount after No. 14 Boise State's 19-8 win over No. 16 Oregon on Thursday night. Hout yelled in Blount's face and tapped him on the shoulder pad before catching the right to the jaw. Petersen was trying to pull Hout away when he was hit.

To the people out there who think that the trash talk from Hout justified a sucker punch, what the heck are you smoking? I disdain trash talk, but it is an almost ubiquitous action in college (and pro) sports; and it most certainly does not warrant that reaction.

I feel sorry for Blount, as the kid obviously has some serious issues. Ironically, his actions after the initial punch are more telling to me than the punch itself. He postively lost it and I think he should be suspended for the season or removed from the team altogether. I hope "indefinite" becomes definite, and I hope he gets help for whatever it is that ails him.

As far as I am concerned Hout could have said anything he wanted to. Blount essentially assaulted him. Provoked or not, that is a crime, but I say let it be. Tempers flair, Blount deserved everything that was said to him for talking trash and not backing it up on the field. Hout should not have been assaulted but then again, if I go into a motorcycle bar and call a bunch of Hells Angels some bad names, who's fault is it if I get punched.

To think we can have sports that require a high level of violence like football, or MMA or Boxing, and expect that at times things won't escalate, is just silly. If Blount is punished by the Pac-10 for anything is should be that he may have assaulted fans. Otherwise lets just let his teammates, and opposing players handle it between themselves. Or Hout could sue him in civil court for assault. There were witnesses and it is on tape.

Actually, after watching the full video , I personally don't have too much of an issue with it. You don't get in someone's face without expecting something in return. Especially after beating the other person on the field. You know emotions are high, and if you throw gas on the fire, there's going to be an explosion. Yea, yea, Blount should shown restraint, but Hout should have as well.

To quote Boise's Coach Peterson from earlier today "it's takes two to tango, and it's unfortunate that it happened. Move on". Doesn't sound like a guy that thinks his player handled the situation very well either.

Yea now that I see the entire tape, I had no problem with the taunt by Hout, nor the punch by Blount. After the punch however I did have a problem with the fact that while Blount was dancing around like a prize fighter looking for more, the Houts entire team did not jump on that Ass**** and kick the crap out of him. His antics after the punch were good cause for his coach to kick him off the team.

Actually, after watching the full video , I personally don't have too much of an issue with it.

Well, if this is an Okay thing then it should happen every game. Not a game is played that this type taunting doesn't go on.

When you run your mouth before the game like Blount and then you don't back it up you're going to get it returned. If he can't take it without physically attacking he should probably shut up. And now that it's evidently easy to get to Blount, he's probably going to get more than his share during every game.

From his past, he's obviously got a problem, and he needs to get some help. Saying "this won't happen again" isn't going to work. He was completely out of control way beyond the one punch. This was way more than a heat of the moment mistake.

And I agree with THX-1138, if Hout is going to be running his mouth on the field he needs to keep his helmet on.

That would be great, Atheist. Let's start the new college football season with a bench-clearing brawl involving two teams that brings disgrace to their schools, and in the case of Boise State results in suspensions that screw up a great opportunity to run the table in the WAC and get into a BCS bowl.

It doesn't matter what the guy said. It's like when Zidane head butted the Italian player in the World Cup. Zidane was an idiot to respond. I don't care what the guy calls your mother or sister.

Unless you are 12, like I was when a player on the other soccer team said he was going to break the other leg of the lady yelling in the stands. He didn't know it was my mother, and that she was dying of cancer. Well, not until I jumped his ass right at that moment and punched him repeatedly while crying my eyes out. I'm pretty sure I got a red card, but it was worth it.

It seems excessive to end his college career over 10 minutes of stupidity. If the fight had been in the third or fourth week of the season, rather than a nationally televised game on opening night, would he have gotten this much attention and such a punishment?

I think it would rcade. Only because of him going crazy after the punch. I think if it was just the punch or or only him going after fans he might of had a chance to play again this year. But on opening night on ESPN didn't help his cause at all.

This might be in bad taste, but I'm glad he had the balls to hit the guy. That guy was being a dick and deserved it. Personally, I wouldn't have hit the guy. Its not that I wouldn't have the balls to do it, its just I understand there are consequences to acting like a punk thug. i lernt that in 3rd grade in skule

I applaud the suspension. Personally, I would prefer to see a complete zero tolerance policy against NCAA football players who trash talk, then sucker punch opponents and have to be dragged off the field by security, teammates and police.

I didn't say that's what he said, I said "maybe" Hout insulted Blount or "maybe" he said good game, we don't know what was said, we're only speculating according to Blount's actions . The key word there is "maybe" since we don't know exactly what was said prior to the punch, we just know it's something that set Blount off and may have cost him his career.

I agree with the suspension, there's just no way anyone would want someone going completely nuts representing their school...especially since this happened in front of a national audience watching on television. The situation didn't just die down after the punch to Hout, Blount also took a swipe at one of his own teammates, who was lucky to be wearing his helmet otherwise, he probably would've been on the ground just like Hout was. Then, he went after some fans who were heckling him as he was being escorted off the field and if that wasn't already bad enough, when the cops were trying to restrain him, he was resisting. The whopper for me was after the fact, when he gave that hallowed apology.

First off, can people please go back and read that the team handshakes were before the game? If you can't get the facts straight, your opinion is pretty much horseshit before you get started.

As for the punishment, in the context of the entire video, it's warranted. I would think Oregon might even have some issues with putting Blount back on the field without some counseling, lest he flip out and seriously injure someone -- who then sues the school for putting him back out on the field knowing he was likely to flip out (i.e. my Todd Bertuzzi should never get back on the ice argument, made ad naseum).

The day an incident like this stops an NFL team from drafting a talented player is the day I kiss Dan Snyder's ass. If the league can handle Leonard Little and a parade of wife-beaters (hiya, Larry Johnson!), what's a guy punching out teammates and fighting with security?

And BI, when's Blount supposed to be sorry -- before the incident?

"I apologize in advance for blasting that Joey Fatone wannabe. It will be to my regret when I smoke that stupid smirk off his Curly-from-The-Three-Stooges-looking, Mike-Reno-headband-wearing, barbed-wire-around-the-arm-tattoo-having face."

Many people in this forum have kittens when people make judgements before all the facts are in. When Michael Vick was "accused" of running a dog fighting ring people where in here stating " you all need to wait until the evidence is in before you condemn him". While folks in here are now positive that Hout instigated this. No one knows what Hout said or for that matter what Blount may have said DURING the game to provoke that taunt.

That was also clearly a sucker punch. Houts attention was turned. It doesnt matter how tough you are when you get hit in the chops, full bore from a strong athletic person. Had he seen it coming he may have had to a chance to block most of it and maybe deliver one himself.

As far as Blounts reaction, that dude was out of control. Im suprised they didnt tase him after he tried to go after fans. That is some real issues that boy has and I hope for everyones sake he learns how to control that. When this washes him out of proffessional football I would hate to be the guy at the grocery store who steals this guys parking spot.

Oh, so just as long as he's really, really(no really, I mean it this time) sorry for attacking an opponent, striking his teammate, going after some fans (a'la Ron Artest) and resisting security and the police...while all of this is being viewed live by college football fans attending the game and across the nation by viewers watching the game on television, then all is forgiven as long as he provides some half-assed apology?

The kid obviously has some issues that needs to be resolved by counseling (which likely won't happen) but coddling Blount just because this is his senior year and suspending him for the season would pretty much end his football career and/or shattering his NFL aspirations, then that's something Blount should've thought about before he attacked Hout. He only has himself to blame for choosing his path, that's whats called taking responsibilty for your actions and suffering the consquences for breaking the rules.

BornIcon: Your response to him completely ignores what he said. Every apology is "after the fact." If you doubt an apology because it occurred after the fact -- "oh, so now your sorry" -- you render the concept of making an apology a logical impossibility.

He only has himself to blame for choosing his path, that's whats called taking responsibilty for your actions and suffering the consquences for breaking the rules.

No one is arguing that he shouldn't face consequences. Some of us question the severity of those consequences. I think the punishment is ridiculous, and in hindsight Oregon will regret throwing away this athlete by handing down a decision so quickly.

I'd say his previous suspension had a lot to do with the severity of this one too. If this was the first time he'd acted up, there's a lot less likelihood he'd be seen as such a loose cannon.

I don't like the sucker punch but hopefully it'll stop Hout from being such a smirking jackass in the near future. It's hard not to think he deserved something, the way he looked, even if it was just a flaming bag of shit poop on his front doorstep.

I said I thought the punishment was excessive, and I still think a short suspension along with getting some help would have been better if it had any chance of working. I think the whole 'practice with us' is their attempt not to just dump the guy completely.

But I can see WHY they suspended him for the season, even without his previous problems. After he hit Hout and sent him to the ground nothing clicked that just maybe that was over the line. After he hit his OWN player nothing clicked that said MAYBE that was over the line. And when security became involved nothing clicked that MAYBE this was over the line. He kept up the act until he was gone.

This is beyond someone just losing their cool, and I don't think a month of counseling was going to solve his problems. So putting him out there 4 games from now is basically putting the same player out on the field, and I'm guessing the coach and school decided they couldn't take that chance.

And I really can't blame them even though I wish there was a better solution.

Every apology is "after the fact." If you doubt an apology because it occurred after the fact -- "oh, so now your sorry" -- you render the concept of making an apology a logical impossibility.

An apology from someone that's sincere about it is what I was going with and IMO, Blount's apology lacked sincerity since he failed to apologize to the person he actually attacked first.

He had plenty of time to stop being an asshat after he punched Hout but he did not. He could have stopped after he took a swipe at his teammate but he did not. He also could have stopped after he went after a fan but he didn't, so his so-called apology IMO was just a weak attempt to salvage what was left of his senior season even though he didn't know that he would be suspended for his senior year.

I can understand why some would see this suspension as being too harsh considering that this is Blount's senior year but this is also Oregon head coach Chip Kelly's first season and he had to make a statement that this type of behaviour will not be accepted and Blount was made an example of. Blount will still be able to recieve a great education so it's not like he is no longer a student, he just can't play football for the school.

Blount put himself in this situation, let's not forget that.

It's hard not to think he deserved something, the way he looked, even if it was just a flaming bag of shit poop on his front doorstep.

He called shit poop.

...I really can't blame them even though I wish there was a better solution

Sorry, wfrazerjr, my horseshit was based on a misunderstanding as to why the players were so close at the end of the game. The post was framed around team handshakes, and I couldn't figure out why else these players were close enough together to taunt and punch each other, obviously after the game.

Then again my opinion is always horseshit, regardless of whether I read as well as you do.